Page 13 of Diesel

We rolled into Memphis a little after midnight, and G put us up in a Hilton, using Hilton points she’d accrued during her travels. Left to me, we’d stay in a low-end motel with stained floors and shitty towels.

“I’ll check us in,” she said and went to the counter. I grabbed a seat in the lobby, watching the entrance. I’d learned a long time ago always to watch the entrance of any establishment I entered. If someone came in with a gun, I’d have more time to react.

“You’re pretty fucking hot,” I told G when she was done and joined me. I got up and walked to the elevator with my arm around her shoulders. “You’re my hero.”

“Because you’re not sleeping in a rat and roach-invested motel tonight?” The elevator opened, and I followed her inside.

“Club brothers have always had my back,” I said. “But nobody else ever has. I appreciate that and can’t really describe how that makes me feel. I’ve stood up for others all these years, but rarely has anyone stood up for me.”

I backed G against the elevator and moved my lips to hers, my hand gentle against her face. I didn’t kiss her hard or sloppy. She deserved care. She deserved to love. When the elevator door opened, I lifted G into my arms and carried her to our room, our lips together most of the time.

“Why’re you being so gentle?” she asked. “It’s not like you.”

I slid the key into the lock and shut the door with my foot. “Because you deserve it, G. You deserve to be treated like a woman, not an object.”

“Where are you taking me?”

“To the bathroom.”

She smiled, and I knew what she was thinking. I put G on her feet and ran warm water in the tub.

“What’s going on, Diesel? You don’t have to do this.”

“Take your clothes off, and I’ll be right back. I expect you to be in that tub when I return.”

I left the room and took the elevator to the first floor. Stopping at the front desk, I pointed at the soaps, shampoos, and bubble bath on the wall behind the counter. “I’ll take the strawberry bubble bath. Charge it to the room.”

The clerk gave me the bottle, and I returned to the room, where I found G in the tub, eyes closed, humming a country song. I stood there watching her, admiring her beauty, body, and courage. I had a way of fucking up the lives of women I dated. Most ran off screaming, wondering why they’d talked to me in the first place. I was one of those men every woman wanted because I was battling demons, and they were sure they could chase away those demons.

G opened her eyes and covered a scream with her hand. “You scared the crap out of me!”

I laughed and removed the bottle top, emptying the contents into the tub. It was probably overkill, but who cared? “The shit you’ve done for me, G. I can’t get over it. Let me do something for you.”

“You have, baby. You’ve helped breathe life into me. I was tired of doing what everyone else wanted me to do.” She gently splashed the water, and bubbles began surrounding her.

I spent the next twenty minutes washing G, rubbing her neck and shoulder, occasionally reaching beneath the water. When she was completely relaxed, her arms resting on the sides of the tub, I reached between her legs, her eyes closed, and gently massaged her pussy, never entering her, just touching, pressing, pleasing, my desire to show her she was the world to me growing.

G opened her eyes and smiled. Her body shuddered, rippling the water, and then she relaxed. “Nobody’s ever done that to me, baby.” She held my hand. “Do you always make your old lady feel this way?”

Right. “No. Honestly, this is the first time I’ve ever treated a woman this way. You’re doing something to me, G, and I’m not sure how to handle it. It’s new to me. Beast once told me how much he loved Skittles. That he’d never felt the way about a woman the way he felt about her. He said they connect so deeply that neither wants to be away from the other.”

“Skittles told me the same thing.” G sat up and then climbed from the tub. Wet and relaxed, she put her arms around me.

“That’s what I want, G. I’m tired of always fucking around, never knowing who I was going to wake up to next. Part of me doesn’t want to say this or even trust myself, but I think you’re that woman. I really do.” I grabbed a towel and dried her off. “I need you to help me figure out what the fuck is going on in my head so that I can give you the best version of myself. Will you do that? I need it, G.”

“Of course I will, baby. That’s why I stayed in the first place. That’s why I walked away from my father.” Naked, she walked from the bathroom and lay on the bed. “But you have to make me a promise. Okay?”

“You name it, G.” I stood at the foot of the bed and admired the woman in front of me. I’d definitely dated up this time. She was clearly out of my league. On that, I would agree with her father.

“You don’t fuck around on me like some in the club fuck around on their old ladies.” She spread her legs and moved her hands behind her head. “If you get tired of me, say so. Don’t keep me hanging on.”

“G. You have my word on that.”

“Now, remove your clothes and make love to me.”

We made love, and when G finally fell asleep, I got up and sat by the window, watching the Memphis lights below. I brought up a browser on my phone and searched for the house. That’s what the family called it—The House.

I looked to make sure my uncle still owned the place, and he did. He was an eccentric man who had decorated the home with antiques and cobwebs and ensured the place remained medieval. He claimed he would never move and planned to die in the residence. When he did die, The House would go to me. I wasn’t sure I wanted something so grotesque, dark, and foreboding.

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